Sir Eric Pickles, Our Local Member of Parliament, Tours Vapemate

Oct 25, 2016

Left to right: Simon Manthorpe, CEO; Sir Eric Pickles

On Friday, October 21st, we were thrilled to host our local Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar, Sir Eric Pickles, for a tour of Vapemate’s offices and facilities. In May 2016, we moved to our current facility and expanded from a staff of five to a staff of over forty - local jobs that promise to keep expanding with our business. Sir Eric Pickles has had a long career in politics, serving as the local MP since the 1992 general election, and has a keen interest in the growth of businesses in his constituency. He was appointed as a Knight Bachelor in 2015.

Tour of Vapemate Facilities and Presentation on Business

Vapemate is impressive not just for what we produce - TPD vaping-compliant e liquid that helps people quit smoking - but for the fact that all of our manufacturing takes place at our Brentwood facility. Sir Eric Pickles toured our laboratory, clean room, and shipping facility, which were all constructed to manufacture and supply eliquids which strictly conform to the Tobacco Products Directive, enacted in force the same month we opened our larger facility in 2016.

He was then shown a presentation about our business and an overview of the vaping industry, which elicited positive comments and thoughtful questions. One of the questions he asked was how many vapers came to vaping without initially being smokers, and we told him that according to recent studies, a very miniscule amount - around 0.2% - took up vaping for the fun of it. The bulk of our clients are former smokers, and this is reflected in our marketing and market development initiatives.

Growing local workforce with meaningful positions

The local jobs we create aren’t just part-time opportunities, most of them have been full-time. While the majority have been in manufacturing and shipping, other positions such as customer service and scientific analysis and testing are also well-represented. Through growing our business responsibly as a TPD-compliant e juice manufacturers we hope to grow in the community even more.

Tobacco Products Directive compliance at the forefront

Compliance with UK regulations, such as the Tobacco Products Directive, are part of the core philosophy of our business. It is one of the main reasons why we invested heavily in the laboratory and manufacturing parts of our business, in order to keep with the other core philosophy of having British-made eliquids on offer to help smokers quit and to keep them off of smoking for good. So far, it’s been a winner for our business and the economy of the local community - and after his visit today, we’re sure Sir Eric Pickles agrees.